The present invention relates to cheese products, and particularly to a novel packaged cheese product which can be used to extrude the cheese product into decorative shapes, the package having a cap to close a decorator tip affixed to partly emptied packages.
As used herein, the term "cheese product" includes a wide variety of edible compositions, including natural cheeses, cold pack cheeses, processed cheeses, imitation cheeses and products made primarily from the foregoing. Examples of natural cheese include cheddar and colby cheeses, as well as cream cheese and Neufchatel cheese. Examples of cold pack cheeses include cold pack cheese and cold pack cheese food. Examples of processed cheeses include pasteurized process cheese, pasteurized process cheese food, pasteurized process cheese spread, pasteurized process cheese product and cheese sauce. Many of these cheese products have standards of identity specified in Part 133 of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations. For purposes of generalization, and as relevant to the present invention, cold pack cheeses and processed cheeses are both cheese products in which one or more natural cheeses have been comminutated and mixed into a homogeneous mass. Processed cheeses have been cooked to a pasteurization temperature and generally include the addition of emulsifying agents. On the other hand, cold pack cheeses have been comminutated and mixed without the aid of heat, and do not include the addition of emulsifying agents.
Cheese products have long been used as not only food items by themselves, but also as a garnish applied to other food items, such as cheese and crackers.
Chefs often prepare hors d'oeuvres by taking a cold pack cheese, softening it by beating it in a mixer, and loading it into a pastry bag fitted with a decorator tip. In a process known as "piping," the cheese is forced out of the pastry bag to form decorative shapes on food items. Chefs often add flavorings to the cold pack cheese used for this purpose. Cream cheese and Neufchatel cheese are sometimes used for garnishing food items in this same manner. However, it is sometimes difficult to obtain a proper consistency such that the cheese product can be extruded out of the pastry bag yet retain its decorative shape for as long as it takes for the decorated food item to be served and consumed. Furthermore, if more cheese is prepared than needed, the cheese may be wasted as it is difficult to close up the pastry bag.
In other situations, particularly involving franchises, chain restaurants or other food service settings where quality uniformity is important, kitchen workers who make up flavored cheese products which are served as a garnish may have difficulty in preparing cheese products with consistent flavor or other qualities. This problem is inherent whenever cheese products are made in batches at different times or at different locations, especially by kitchen workers who are not highly trained. Again, saving leftover product is a problem since pastry bags and decorator tips are not designed for reclosing and storage.
A number of processed cheese products have been marketed in forms that are suited for garnishing other food items with cheese. Some soft cheese products are sold in wide-mouth containers so that they can be scooped out, such as on a celery stick. Others are packaged in containers from which they are extruded through an opening that provides a decorative shape to the cheese product. For example Easy Cheese.RTM. is a pasteurized process cheese spread sold in an aerosol can. When the tip of the can is flexed, the pasteurized process cheese spread is forced out of the can through a nozzle that has slits in the side. The cheese product can thus be extruded onto crackers or other food items in a decorative shape.
A similar product packaged in a chub pack was commercially sold under the trade name "Squeeze-a-snak." A chub pack is a cylindrical package, usually of a heavy gauge packaging film, with its ends gathered and held by a metal clip. As best understood, the "Squeeze-a-snak" product was a pasteurized process cheese spread. The side wall of the chub pack had a hole with a fitment in it that was initially sealed. Once opened some petal- like member in the fitment made contours in the pasteurized process cheese spread forced out of the hole. The chub pack contained about 6 oz. of pasteurized process cheese spread.
Recently, microwaveable plastic bottles containing a pasteurized process cheese sauce have been introduced. These products are designed to allow consumers to squeeze a flowable cheese sauce onto other foods, such as hot dogs, corn chips and the like. The cheese sauce in such products is extruded in a round stream, and does not maintain any particular shape.
One drawback of Easy Cheese.RTM. is that it is expensive, and each can contains a relatively small quantity of cheese. The same was true for the "Squeeze-a-snak" product. Thus they were designed for immediate snack consumption, and are unsuitable for food service or institutional usages. Also, both products were pasteurized process cheese spreads. Many people would rather not use processed cheese as a garnish. Further, because the Easy Cheese.RTM. can is not flexible, the rate at which the product is expelled from the can is mostly beyond the user's control. If the propellant in the can is used up before all of the product is expelled, product remaining in the can is wasted.
There has been a long felt need for an improvement to these prior art cheese products. In the case of the pastry bag used by the chef, the time it takes to make up a softened batch of cheese and load it into the pastry bag adds to the expense of the final food item. Also, any unused cheese is often wasted because once mixed and placed in a pastry bag, it would be difficult to seal the bag and unsanitary to store it for any useful length of time. Further, the pastry bag must be cleaned after use, which is not an easy task, and often results in misplacement and loss of the decorator tip.
A packaged cheese product was developed to meet these needs. However, the cheese product in such packages is frequently not used completely, and partially emptied packages are then stored. It would be a great benefit if such packaged cheese products could be closed with a tight fitting cap.